


Five times someone hugged Maria Hill, and one time she hugged someone else

by SneakyHufflepuff



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Gen, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-21
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-16 11:45:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1346254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SneakyHufflepuff/pseuds/SneakyHufflepuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What the title says. It was supposed to be fluff, but got kinda deep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five times someone hugged Maria Hill, and one time she hugged someone else

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SugarFey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarFey/gifts).



> This will probably be made AU very soon, so it’s just for fun. Thanks muchly to shenshen77 for the beta.

**1\. Her father**

She heard the front door opening. It was her father coming home from work at five thirty, a good hour before he usually did. Maria, an ungainly fifteen years old, hastily turned off the television and began doing her homework. As long as she did her homework, he could ignore her and she could ignore him. They wouldn’t have to pretend to be a family.

She heard footsteps in the hall and, suddenly, her father appeared at the door to the living room, bright blue eyes actually focused on her.

“Maria?” he asked. 

His suit jacket hung limply in his hands and he looked almost worried. The last time he had expressed any emotion near her was when he had been mildly proud she had made the varsity soccer team. 

“Yes, Dad?” she responded, every inch the perfect daughter.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, even more confused.

He walked over and swept her into a hug. She froze in surprise, struggling to remember the last time he had hugged her. The hug was odd, and her father’s breath smelt slightly of alcohol.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, releasing her and awkwardly patting her shoulder. “I’ll go make dinner.”

She found out later there had been a school shooting nearby. The hug made her wonder what kind of father he would have been had her mother not died during her birth. 

 

**2\. Her college girlfriend**

Beth threw her arms around Maria, their black robes tangled in the space between them.

“We’ll stay in touch, yeah?” Beth said, her blonde hair whipping in the wind. 

The hug was warm and soft, but Maria felt ice cold inside. She liked Beth, but knew there was no way that she could maintain a secret relationship with someone while in the military and be happy. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a bitch. Maria pulled away from her girlfriend’s arms.

“Beth, you’re going to California, and I’m going to the Air Force. We should say our goodbyes now.” 

Maria had never been good with words, and the look of pain on Beth’s face confirmed it.

“Fine.” 

Beth disappeared into the crowd of black robes. Maria didn’t watch her go.

 

**3\. That one kid**

A kid, clad in clothes a size too big for it, was bawling in the middle of the street. The other New York commuters walked determinedly around the kid, studiously ignoring it (Maria couldn’t determine its gender). 

Maria was about to follow their example when she drew level with the kid. But, between the bawling, she could hear a lot that sounded like a plea for help in Hindi. 

“Does anyone speak Hindi?” she called out. 

The commuters around her moved almost imperceptibly faster, an uncaring sea of grey and black that must look terrifying to the kid, who couldn’t be more than three feet high.

“Do you speak English?” she asked, in Hindi.

The kid stopped bawling for a second, hiccuped, and then attached itself to her leg with a force that Maria usually associated with Melinda May’s sparring technique. 

It said something in Hindi, too broken up by crying for Maria to understand.

“Can you repeat that?” Maria asked.

The second time round the “I can’t find my daddy,” was audible, in between the tears.

“It’s okay,” Maria said, “we’ll find him. Do you know his phone number?”

“No!” The kid looked like it was about to cry again, and tightened its hold on Maria’s leg.

“Do you want me to tell you a story?” Maria asked, feeling slightly desperate.

Maria Hill began telling a story about a girl who became a knight in broken Hindi as the kid’s grasp slowly loosened. It took twenty minutes for the kid’s father to find it.

 

**4\. Barton**

She settled the Quinjet down on the landing pad emblazoned with a massive S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. Not for the first time Maria wished her boss had a better sense of what “secret” meant. She undid her seatbelt just in time for Barton to grab her from the seat and pull her into a hug. She wrinkled her nose in disgust: he smelt overwhelmingly of sweat.

“You saved my ass back there, Hill. I could kiss you!”

Maria gave him an unamused look as he put her down. His grin disappeared.

“Or I could not kiss you,” he mumbled, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry?” 

“I’m sure many of the agents will be grateful your ass is in fine condition.”

She ducked out of the Quinjet before Barton could figure out that she had made a joke.

“You know, you’re not all bad,” he called after her. 

She ignored him. It was good for him. Too many people cut Barton slack because of his preternatural ability with the bow. She wasn’t the kind of woman who cut people slack.

 

**5\. An unfortunate goon**

She had been walking to her station when she was enveloped in a bear hug from behind. She hadn’t been expecting an attack in a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, but she wouldn’t be Commander Hill if she couldn’t deal with surprises. She stepped on his foot, hearing the snap of something break. The pain caused him to relax his hold for just a second, and that was all she needed. Within a second he had hit the ground hard, within one more he was in a chokehold. She left his unconscious body in a supply closet.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. The Council had finally moved against Fury, and she was another loyalist that needed to be taken out. She made her way to the exit; face blank as she moved through corridors that held both friends and foes. She needed to get to a safe house and gather support. 

 

**1\. And the one time she hugged someone else**

Natasha had retired to her room to get some sleep, but Rogers had slipped out through the back door of the safe house. Maria followed to find him sitting on the steps of the landing, staring at the streets outside.

“Rogers?” Maria asked, just before she realized his shoulders were shaking from crying.

It seemed even Captain America couldn’t handle his resurrected best friend turned against him and his world disintegrating for the second time in three years.

He turned towards her, eyes red. She sat next to him awkwardly, wondering what to say. As the senior officer left standing, she was responsible for all her agents. He made an abortive movement towards her for a hug, but stopped. Even driven to the edge, Rogers was considerate of others.

Maria understood that everyone needed human contact sometimes, and leaned over to hug him instead. She spent long moments in the hug, listening to Rogers quiet his breathing. Finally, he pulled away, eyes almost dry.

“I’m sorry,” he began. 

Maria didn’t let him finish whatever apology he was about to make.

“Don’t tell anyone I hugged you, and I won’t tell anyone you were crying. Deal?” Maria offered her hand.

Rogers offered her a weak smile, a shadow of the one on propaganda posters that had enthralled generations of women, and men.

“Deal.” He took her hand and shook. 

She saw the resolve return to his eyes, as he readied himself to be Captain America, the man that everyone needed, the only man who could symbolically stand up to the mess of corruption and treachery they had found themselves in.


End file.
